Council fuming as Minister flogs inner west buses to private operator

Inner West Council is outraged at the announcement today by Minister for Transport, Andrew Constance that inner west bus services, over a third of Sydney’s bus services will be handed to Transit Systems, a private bus operator.

The announcement comes just weeks after Sydney’s train services descended into chaos, raising serious questions over Minister Constance’s ability to perform his duties in maintaining and strengthening Sydney’s transport network.

Inner West Mayor, Darcy Byrne, said that Minister Constance was ignoring evidence that inner west bus services were outperforming eastern suburb services, and persecuting inner west commuters for ideological reasons.

“Andrew Constance can’t manage trains or name a ferry, so it’s obvious he’s inner west bus privatisation will be a disaster.

“Constance’s excuses just don’t add up – he has blamed late running buses to justify the decision to privatise our bus services and yet they consistently out-perform the running time of services in the eastern suburbs.

“The fact is, Andrew Constance is privatising inner west services because he can’t get away with doing the same thing in blue ribbon Liberal electorates.

“This decision wreaks of bias – we are sick and tired of drawing the short straw. Inner west commuters, pensioners and students who rely on these services will pay the price for Constance’s ideological crusade.

“Give it a few months and the bus network will be in total shambles – this decision will lead to fewer stops, less buses, lost jobs and longer journey times.

“Chaos descended on Newcastle after the Government sold off their buses and now we are next.

“It begs the question, where is your conscience Constance?

On time running services for Region 6 services improved steadily last year, from 87.1% to 91.3%.